AE911Truth Goes Grassroots at State Architecture Conventions

AE911Truth Staff

November 22, 2016

In state after state across the country, supporters of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth are laying the foundation for a breakthrough that will help bring our message to the attention of building professionals everywhere.

The goal is to rally our fellow architect-members at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to adopt a position statement supporting a new investigation into the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7).

AE911Truth’s Richard Gage (center) and Ted Walter (right) have a bit of fun as they talk with attendees at the AIA Alabama Convention, which was held on July 8 and 9 in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Since last July, a number of architects, engineers, and even some non-experts have assisted AE911Truth in this effort by manning exhibit booths at various state AIA conventions.

These events are smaller versions of the national AIA convention, at which AE911Truth has exhibited for the past eight years.

At the five state conventions we've attended thus far — in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, and New Jersey — our focus has been on educating AIA members at the grassroots level, planting seeds that will grow into a fertile field of support and reap a bountiful harvest of sponsors for next year’s WTC 7 resolution.

AIA members at the South Atlantic Region Conference in Savannah, Georgia, which ran from September 29 to October 1, learn about WTC 7 over a light meal and refreshments.

Conceived by Ted Walter, who directs AE911Truth’s strategy and development, and led by AE911Truth board member Dan Barnum, who is a fellow of the AIA, the WTC 7 resolution puts into the hands of the AIA's voting delegates the decision as to whether their organization should add its voice to the growing call for a new investigation.

Two years ago we presented our first resolution at the national convention in Atlanta. Sponsored by 55 AIA members, the resolution received support from 4% of the delegates at the business meeting.

At the convention in Philadelphia last May, 97 AIA members sponsored a revised resolution, which we turned into an educational tool by actually outlining the most important scientific evidence. There, the vote supporting the resolution nearly tripled — to 11%. This advance was no doubt the fruit of our increasing year-round efforts to inform the AIA membership.

Volunteers and attendees gather around the monitor showing video footage of WTC 7’s collapse at the AIA Tennessee Convention, where more than 30 AIA members added their names as sponsors of next year’s WTC 7 resolution.

The time-tested method of outreach practiced at the conventions, developed by AE911Truth founder Richard Gage, AIA, is simple: Invite, engage, and allow observers to draw their own conclusions from what they are seeing. Every AIA member who passes our exhibit booth is invited to view a continuous, one-minute video loop showing the collapse of WTC 7 from several angles.

Some volunteers initiate dialogue with the simple question, “Did you know a third tower fell on 9/11?” Others prompt the attendees to watch the video without offering background information on the identity of the building or the fact that there is a debate surrounding the cause of its collapse.

As they watch the building fall, architects are asked what they believe brought it down. In most cases, they instinctively suspect that explosives were used to demolish it. The percentage who give this answer is similar to the more than 2-to-1 majority of respondents surveyed by the polling firm YouGov who have the same impression.

Richard Gage and four incredible volunteers pose for a photo at the end of a long day at the AIA Ohio Convention, which was held on October 6 and 7 in Akron, Ohio.

When told that random office fires are the official explanation for this sudden, symmetrical failure, their eyes often widen and a look of disbelief crosses their faces. Many shake their heads in immediate disagreement with the government's theory.

One of every three who look at the video end up signing AE911Truth’s petition on the spot. Nearly 100 attendees of the state conventions we have been to so far have added their names to the growing list of sponsors of next year’s WTC 7 resolution.

“The video really speaks for itself,” said Richard Gage. “Most architects have the knowledge of structures and steel framing to recognize that a building cannot fall in that way unless it's engineered to. Our job then is to fill them in on the details and encourage them to join us in taking action.”

It is through personal, face-to-face outreach like this that minds can be opened. Because of the proven results of this one-on-one approach, AE911Truth plans to attend as many state conventions as possible in the future.

Thanks to the growing community of architects, engineers, and other activists who are awakening the public to the scientific evidence that AE911Truth has been shining a light on for ten years now, our message is reaching farther than ever before.

Through our trips to the state AIA conventions, thousands of AIA members have been given the opportunity to learn about the evidence and come to their own conclusions.

With persistence, we will reach a critical mass in the coming years, which we hope will result in the AIA lending its respected and much-needed voice to the growing call for a new investigation.